Drayton's Legend of Rollo duke of Normandy contains nine hundred and forty five lines; his Matilda fix hundred and seventy two; and his Legend of Pierce Gavefton feven hundred and two. On the story of Romeo and Juliet, Arthur Brooke has left a poem of above four thousand lines; and that of Troilus and Creffida Chaucer has expanded into no less than eight thoufand verses. MALONE.

SONNETS.

L

OF THESE ENSUING SONNETS,
MR. W. H'.

ALL HAPPINESS,

AND THAT ETERNITY PROMISED BY OUR EVER-LIVING POET,

WISHETH THE

WELL-WISHING ADVENTURER
IN SETTING FORTH,

T. T.

Dr. Farmer fuppofes that many of thefe Sonnets are addreffed to our authour's nephew Mr. William Harte. But this, I think, may be doubted. Shakspeare's fifter, Joan Harte, was born in April, 156). Suppofing her to have married at fo early an age as fixteen, her eldeft fon William could not have been more than twelve years old in 1598*, at which time thefe Sonnets were compofed, though not publifhed for feveral years afterwards. Many of them are written to fhow the propriety of marriage; and therefore cannot well be fuppofed to be addressed to a fchool-boy.

Mr. Tyrwhitt has pointed out to me a line in the twentieth Sonnet, which inclines me to think that the initials W. H. ftand for W. Hughes. Speaking of this perfon, the poet fays he is

A man in bew all Hews in his controlling-" fo the line is exhibited in the old copy. The name Hughes was formerly written Hews. When it is confidered that one of thefe Sonnets is formed entirely on a play on our authour's Chriftian name, this conjecture will not appear improbable. To this perfon, whoever he was, one hundred and twenty fix of the following poems are addreffed; the remaining twenty-eight are addreffed to a lady. MALONE. 2 i. e. Thomas Thorpe. See the extract from the Stationers' books in the next page. MALONE.

I have here fuppofed our authour's eldeft nephew to have been twelve years old in 1598, but perhaps he was not then even born. It is obfervable, that Shakspeare, when he had occafion in his Will to mention the children of his fifter Joan Harte, did not recollect the Chriftian name of her fecond fon; from which circumftance we may infer, that in 1616 they were all young.